Customer Ratings & Reviews

I used this WD - Blue PC SSD 500GB Internal SATA Solid State Drive to upgrade the HDD in my Toshiba Satellite S55. The first improvement was the speed of startup compared to the HDD. The HDD took around 25 seconds to get to the sign in screen for Windows 10. While the WD Blue SSD cut that time down to around 12 seconds with no changes made. I tried transferring a couple of files from an external hdd via USB 3.0, first file was 3.4gb in size and took 36.7 seconds while the second file was 2.28gb and took 27.5 seconds. I then ran a Glary Utilities 1 click maintenance scan and while I didn't time it with the HDD I would say that the scan took about half the time with the WD Blue SSD! The second improvement was in the lack of noise compared to a standard spinning HDD! Although this is 512gb SSD replaced a 1TD HDD I feel the performance improvement makes up for the loss of storage space.

For $89 it is an amazing upgrade to my 4 year old laptop. Between the ssd and eliminating bloatware boot time is about 10 seconds. My HP Pavilion G7's hdd crapped out and I needed a quick replacement so I ordered a new Dell Inspiron to replace it. I was searching for a cheap hdd replacement just to see if I could fix the old laptop and came across this ssd for $89. Expecting the install of the ssd and windows to be a big deal I set it aside until I had a full day to commit to the install. I had the drive mounted in less than 5 minutes and following instruction found on the internet I was able to reinstall Windows 10 very easily. Probably less than 30 minutes actually "doing" and maybe an hour or so "downloading" or "installing". I can't say exactly how much time "downloading" or "installing" actually took because I got busy with other things while "downloading" and "installing". I must comment that Microsoft did a great job making a clean reinstall really easy and free. Only down side is I prefer the old laptop now because with the ssd it is faster than the Inspiron... so the Inspiron was a waste of money since I only use it for backup on it's 1.5 TB hdd at this point. I like the led display on the Inspiron better than the Pavilion so maybe when they get cheap enough I'll get a 1 TB ssd and try cloning the hdd in the Dell.

By some co-incidence I happen to have 4 SSDs in my possession. (Crucial MX500 1TB, Samsung 850 Pro 500 GB, Sandisk Ultra 3D 250 GB). So I thought, perhaps it will be helpful for fellow Bestbuy customers to see how these perform in comparison. I have also done a test run on my install drive Crucial MX100 512 GB (MLC). I have attached the data and comparison chart, see for yourself. My machine have an SSD dock(connects to SATA3), the machine was idle while testing and I picked two separate runs, one with 32Gb and another with 16GB using CrystalDiskMark on windows 10, I averaged them out and put that in Chart. Actual runs data is also attached. Now it is possible that OS might decide to read/write something when the test is running and hence taking the SATA bandwidth, so I manually reviewed test runs and picked two, which were very close in numbers. Few observations, Fantastic read performance (top of the batch mostly), not good random write performance. This is a 2D TLC drive, its TBW rating is very good but warranty is on shorter side, MX500 has 5 Years and Samsung Pro is 10 Years. Sandisk in comparison performed bad, it could be due to various reason but I was expecting good performance from a 3D SSD. This test debunks that assumption. This being a 2D drive is no reason to not buy it. The new 3D model of this drive seems to improve on its shortcoming, i.e. random write performance, so you may want that as well. Considering that BesyBuy is selling the 860 Evo for same price, it is hard to recommend this SSD over that. But if you can get this somewhat cheaper, I'd say go for it. In conclusion, this WD drive has top notch read performance, not very good random writes. So I am going to put this in my Xbox as an external disk. Where I will write a game rarely (game install and updates) but read a lot of times(every game launch).

Western Digital’s line of solid state disks came about after the company acquired SanDisk. The Blue line of SSDs aims to achieve a parallel to WD’s mechanical hard drives: great everyday performance with strong cost-per-gigabyte value. While the WD Blue PC SSD 500GB Internal SATA Solid State Drive for Laptops delivers on the performance proposition relative to any mechanical hard drive, this drive offers budget-class speeds at a premium price. Note that this drive is sold barebone; that is, the only thing in the box is the drive itself. There are no adapters, cables, or software included to transfer your data from your existing hard disk to the SSD, and thus this product is not intended for novice users. If you are not familiar with moving or reinstalling your operating system (e.g. Windows, MacOS), I highly recommend that you speak with a Geek Squad associate prior to purchasing for recommended services. - Build Quality There is little to say about this drive...most SATA solid state disks are the same and only vary externally. I was disappointed to find the mounting holes for hard drive screws were all plastic rather than metal, but realistically this will not make any significant difference in any machine. It feels lighter than most and at 7mm height will fit in virtually any desktop or laptop without issue. - Performance Compared to the hard drive this SSD replaced, the difference is dramatic. Boot time on a Windows 10 installation shrunk from over a minute to under 15 seconds, and the system is significantly more responsive all around. Apps open quicker, web browsers are much faster to respond, and updates are no longer a chore. This is typical for most SSDs, of course, but WD technically delivers on its promise by being light-years faster in all aspects. Unfortunately, against all of the solid state disks I’ve used throughout the years, this SSD ranks among the slowest (eMMC notwithstanding). Benchmarks showed a maximum sequential throughput of 365 MB/s read and 386 MB/s write on a SATA-III connection, with average speeds a bit short of those numbers. Random read/write revealed a similar story: speeds that are well below par for even early-generation solid state drives. Today's value-oriented drives can hit upwards of 500MB/s easily, and results were consistent across two computers I tested this drive in. I’m truthfully stunned that WD chose to brand this as a Blue drive rather than relegating it to the budget-oriented Green line or shuffling it into OEM channels, as these are not strong numbers by any stretch. The benchmark numbers don't even hit within 80% of their performance as rated on the packaging, which suggests speeds up to 545 MB/s Read and 525 MB/s write. - Bottom Line Although a casual user will notice a major difference upgrading to this disk from a traditional hard drive, this SSD does not compete with other offerings at or near its MSRP, which is already pushing higher-end territory. I am very disappointed that Western Digital is selling a drive that falls so short of performance expectations, as I have known them as a reliable, high quality hard drive manufacturer for over two decades, and this foray into the SSD space is a letdown. Not recommended.

Pretty reliable drive as I purchased a few of them and has not let me down thus far. Faster and efficient. Pleasure to use after upgrading from HDD.

It works great 100 % recommended, the install was fast and easy

My 5 year old desktop was having issues and startup would take up to 20 minutes for Windows to do its thing and be able to use and click anything. Time for do something about it. I bought the SSD because most of the hard drives in my work as home PCs are Western Digital. Came home, plugged it in and after I messed around with the BIOS, I got it to recognize the drive. Download a free app to clone my primary drive and started the process. Once done, again in BIOS, changed the startup drive and rebooted. First reboot took about 5 minutes, so I was OK with it. Ran updates and rebooted. 1.5 minutes. !!! I was happy with that. Next time startup was less than a minute. Wow! So that’s been my average. About a minute to a full reboot and be able to start working on stuff. I kick myself for having waited that long. I am extremely satisfied with my purchase and would recommend to everyone who has an older that need a boost.

Used to replace a 3.5" spinning disk. Major performance increase. Night/Day. Very please with speed compared to old hard drive.

Bought This 2 years back and works well, runs fast and works with my pc in a hard drive bay

I installed one of these drives in a 10 year old Gateway Desktop (SX2803) and another in a Lenovo laptop. In both cases the improvement in speed and performance was remarkable. Like a new upgrade for less than $60. I did have some quirky problems with the cloning. I eventually got both my desktop HDD and the partitioned laptop HDD to be successfully cloned to the SSD but each process had its own quirks. In the end I needed to use both the Western Digital Acronis TrueImage program and the AOMEI Backupper program both which can be downloaded from their respective websites at no cost. 1) Desktop: clone larger 1TB HDD to a smaller 500GB SDD - The Acronis program would not clone the larger drive to the smaller drive even though the spaced used on the larger drive was much smaller than the smaller drive (240 GB vs. 500 GB). The AOMEI program had no problem doing this and was very easy to use with my non-partitioned HDD. Took about 2 hours to clone. 2) Laptop; clone a partitioned HDD (5 partitions!) to the SSD - the AOMEI program would not do this directly. I tried to copy each partition separately but apparently that did not include the boot sector so the cloned drive was unable to boot up the laptop. Perhaps there is a way to create a bootable drive and then copy the partitions but I'm not sure. In any case the Acronis program handled this cloning task without any problem since both the HDD and SSD were the same size. The only problem with the Acronis program is that it is very slow to get going. Each step of the cloning process, would take 4 or 5 minutes to step through before actually starting the actual cloning. But it worked! I believe I also had to use the Acronis program to initialize the SSD before I cloned it with the AOMEI program...go figure. I used the GPT format for the laptop SSD since the laptop HDD was GPT. I used the MBR format for the desktop SSD since the desktop HDD was MBR. I could not see how to initialize the SSD's with the AOMEI program.

My PC crashed and I took it to Best Buy and they recommended this product for my needs. It is perfect.

WD is great for standard storage in a pc or laptop. These usually go on sale so keep your eye out for a good deal.

Upgraded some old 2012 Mac minis to these blazing fast SSD’s and breathed new, highly usable life into nearly decade old hardware. (For that upgrade there may have been third-party adapters needed, I don’t recall exactly). Have had no failures in a couple years, and it was set and forget!

Let me give it to you straight. I do IT work for a living for many years now. I've used this drive to replace dozens if not hundreds of laptop and desktop drives in the last few years. If you have a relatively decent CPU, 8gb RAM or more (4 is the very least), this SSD will give you a fast computer. The difference you'll see is remarkable. The reliability is extremely good as well. I haven't seen a single failure of a WD Blue SSD. I have seen a few others but as a rule, SSDs are more reliable than spinning drives. Well worth their price. Get one!

The WD Blue 500GB Internal SSD SATA has significantly improved my computer's performance and storage capabilities. Its easy installation process and compatibility with my system made the upgrade hassle-free. The SSD's impressive read and write speeds have notably reduced my system's boot time and application loading times, providing a noticeable boost in overall speed and responsiveness. Its reliable performance, coupled with WD's reputation for quality, has assured me of a durable and efficient storage solution that has enhanced my computing experience.

Good value for good basic SSD needs. These are actually more compatible with certain HP business grade machines than Samsung.

Upgraded my laptop’s drive with this ssd and made a world of a difference with boot time and over all use. If you haven’t upgraded to ssd, here’s your sign that it’s time!

Great upgrade from a 250gb ssd. Great value at $50. Easy installation. Good performance for my work pc.

The hard drive comes unformatted so some basic pc knowledge is needed. I was adding a hard drive to my laptop which has an extra slot. It was very quick and easy install. Once formatted I transferred a few large video files and large folders. The transfer speed was very quick. Definitely a must to add extra space to a laptop or desktop with the right adapters.

I was looking for a drive for my Atomos Ninja Inferno external recorder to record high-quality 4K footage and was a little skeptical of this drive compared to the Sandisk 850 and 860 Pro, since it was cheaper but still was listed as a compatible drive. Although this drive may have lower specs on paper, it is still very fast only being just slightly slower than the 850 and 860 Pro. Again, on paper, but I had no problems with 10-bit/60p 4K footage both reading and writing to the drive. Highly recommended especially for the price.